Goals

Finish

< 2 hours

Yes

So dang close

Background

Over the past couple years, I ran up to 3 miles a couple times a month. I almost never ran in the cold Alaskan winter months (October through March). In mid-June of this year, I started running regularly and got hooked. I attribute this, at least in part, to signing up for a Smashrun account. I kind of obsess over stats and was anxious to start filling it with data and earning badges. After a week or so of regular running, I set a goal to run a half marathon by the end of the year.

Training

I started with the Hal Higdon Novice 1 plan. About halfway through, I switched to the Novice 2 plan, essentially because it worked better with my schedule. I did jump ahead a little bit in my training, but I was careful to listen to my body to avoid injury. For example, I jumped from an 8-mile long run to a 10-mile long run, because I was just too excited to hit that milestone. I also did not crosstrain–I rode my kid’s bike a little here and there and went on walks, but nothing really structured.

The half marathon I was initially training for was schedule for September 30. Since I started my 12-week plan more than 12 weeks prior to that date, I was left with trying to decide to stretch out the training or find another race that fell in line with my training. I was fortunate to find a half marathon nearby (3 hour drive) from my home that lined up perfectly with my training.

Pre-race

Basically followed the same plan I did for all of my long runs. Wake up, eat some oatmeal, drink a cup of coffee, use the bathroom. I was careful to remain hydrated and get sleep during the days leading up to the race. I followed my race plan’s taper (I actually skipped the last 2 mile run and rested that day).

Race

The race didn’t have corrals. We were basically told to just organize ourselves according to our expected pace. I had two problems: being my first race I wasn’t sure what my pace was going to be (I wanted to start with 9:30 miles and evaluate midway), I had no way of knowing the pace of the people next to me. So, I just put myself somewhere in the middle.

The gun fired and we were off. There were over 700 of us sharing a narrow bike path for the first few miles. The first half mile was downhill, but there was no speed to take advantage of because of how tight we were packed. It was extremely difficult to pass anyone. The pace of the pack was slower than my goal by 15 to 30 seconds. After about 3 miles, things opened up a bit and I was able to find a comfortable pace with some space.

At 5 miles, I ate my first GU. The first half of the race was at a slight uphill, with a few steeper sections. Many people walked on the steeper sections, but I actually powered through them and used the flat parts to get my heart rate back down.

I hit the halfway turnaround and enjoyed the downhill for most of the remainder of the race. I somehow missed the Mile 7 beep on my watch and saw the one for Mile 8. I caught my second wind and started picking up my pace. Around Mile 10 I ate another GU.

I watched the race predictor on my watch tick down. Estimated finish of 2:07:00, then 2:05:00, down to 2:01:00. I was making up my time and set to hit my 2 hour goal.

Then I hit that hill at the last half mile. Halfway up, my legs started to feel like they were shutting down. My body felt really tight and I started to feel like I was going to pass out. I figured I’d just finish out the hill by walking up it, but that was even worse. My legs did not want to lift. I began to perform some sort of zombie shuffle to get to the top. Once the course was flat again, I didn’t have a problem getting back into my stride. I finished strong in good form through the finish line. ​

Post-race

I crossed the line. They put a medal around my neck. I saw my time. I was so happy to have finished the race, the extra 54 seconds beyond my 2-hour goal didn’t bother me. For me, that was close enough. My family greeted me and we took some pictures together.

Next

I’m going to run the half marathon I was initially training for at the end of September. I’m taking this week to do some lighter recovery runs and I’ll hop back into the program again next week. I’ll be adding a mile to two of the shorter runs and perhaps some other changes based on advice from other runners. Now I have an idea of what to use as a race pace, and I’ll be able to train more efficiently.

I’m excited to shave those 54 seconds off.

After that, well, there’s another half a couple weeks after the September one… I think I’m hooked.